Rajnath Singh says Modi most popular leader

New Delhi : Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is the BJP’s most popular leader, party president Rajnath Singh said Sunday, but refrained from naming Modi as its prime ministerial candidate.

“Narendra Modi is the most popular BJP leader as of now,” Rajnath Singh said on CNN-IBN’s Devil’s Advocate programme.

He added that any decision on the prime ministerial candidate will be taken by the BJP parliamentary board. “I cannot say who will be the PM candidate but he (Modi) is undoubtedly the most popular leader.

“Despite being the president, I cannot say what decision the central parliamentary board will take,” he said.

Rajnath Singh said the BJP’s alliance with the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) was 18 years old and was not going to break.

“I am confident no alliance with any party will be broken,” he added.

The JD-U has refused to accept Modi as the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance’s prime ministerial candidate and has put a question mark on the continuation of the alliance if he was projected for the top job.

Questioned on Modi projecting himself as the prime ministerial candidate, Rajnath Singh said: “Narendra Modi has never said he should be projected as the PM candidate.”